Activities

The Ground Truth 2.0 approach combines the social dimensions of citizen observatories with enabling technologies.

1. Social dimensions: co-designing citizen observatories

A range of social interaction mechanisms will provide the basis for co-designing and co-creating citizen observatories. The iterative co-design process of the citizen observatories will consist of interactive sessions, taking into account not only local stakeholders but also governance goals, cultures, customs and languages. Multiple feedback loops allow for periodic modifications and enhancements to the observatories. Concretely, the following activities will be undertaken:

Stakeholder analysis of the demonstration cases

Identification of incentives and barriers for stakeholders to participate in observatories

Design and implementation of citizen engagement strategies

Monitoring and evaluation of the social and economic impacts

Development of guidelines and future recommendations

2. Enabling technologies: customization, deployment and upscaling

For each demonstration case, a technological architecture will be designed and set up, depending on the stakeholder engagement strategy and available resources. Ground Truth 2.0 will draw on a number of existing, well-tested mobile apps, visualisation and software components, provided by the different technical consortium partners. Real-time data from the various sources will be aggregated and integrated smoothly. Besides the explicit data provided directly by citizens, implicit data will be gathered via social media analytics. Ground Truth 2.0 will also provide an innovative, web-based service (Land Use Mapper) for worldwide mapping and updating of land-use.

3. Business development

Ground Truth 2.0 will develop a strong business case for the sustainability of the demonstration cases, resulting in business models for the 6 demo cases and for citizen observatories in general. Activities include an end-user analysis, market analysis, SWOT analysis, sales and pricing strategy, awareness strategy and a feasibility study. Ground Truth 2.0 will define key indicators to measure the success of the exploitation activities. For each demonstration case, conclusions, recommendations and actions identified to grow the business will be made, resulting in a roadmap and rollout plan for exploitation activities beyond the end of the project.

4. Communication & dissemination

Ground Truth 2.0 will effectively communicate and disseminate information about the activities, progress and results to the widest possible range of key stakeholders in Africa and Europe. It will raise awareness of the project and increase the level of engagement and exploitation of results among target audiences in Europe and internationally; ensure the sustainability of the six Citizen Observatories beyond the lifetime of the project by providing communication and engagement tools to promote their activities to society and policy makers; and enhance the understanding of regional authorities of the Ground Truth 2.0 technologies, demonstration results, methods and guidelines by providing them with access and training.